First Virginia Bacon Festival happens Saturday

Sponsored by Smithfield and featuring dishes prepared by area chefs, the event will take place from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 5, on the Scope Plaza in downtown Norfolk.

The festival will feature a Skillet Chef competition cook-off, cooking demonstrations and a bacon eating contest with a first-place prize of a year's supply of bacon from Smithfield. There'll be bacon and beverage samplings, with drinks provided by Three Olives Vodka, The Kraken Black Spiced rum, Maestro Dobel Tequila and Boodles Gin, and Starr Hill Brewery.

Peninsula Town Center is hosting Taste of the Town from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 10, in the Town Square section of the Hampton shopping destination.

Town center restaurants will serve samples of their signature dishes. Music will be provided by Fine Swiss Cheese. Proceeds from the event will benefit the USO of Hampton Roads and Central Virginia.

Tickets are $15 military and veterans, $20 in advance, $25 at the gate. You can get tickets from the town center management office or from the USO location on Langley Air Force Base.

Blackbird Bakery

Merchants Square has a new bakery that opened last week.

The Blackbird Bakery has taken up shop in the space formerly occupied by the Nancy Thomas Gallery. Owned and operated by David Everett, it offers bread, cookies, cupcakes and breakfast pastries prepared at the nearby Trellis Restaurant. The bright interior features green, purple and blue colors.

Competing teams will put their secret chili recipes to the test with a public cook-off lasting from noon until 2:30 p.m. Prizes will be awarded based on the decisions of a panel of judges made up of military veterans. Festival-goers will be able to purchase 50-cent tickets that entitle them to chili samples and other food items.